Colbert on immigration

I know that the The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is over a year old now and you have all probably already seen this BUT I was just watching Junot Diaz's appearance on the Colbert Report and almost died laughing.

Here's my one bone to pick with you, OK, Colbert says. Sir, you were not BORN here, OK? You came here at age 6 and took away a Pulitzer from an American writer. Couldn't an American writer have written about being a Dominican nerd?! That's something an American would have wanted to do!

Absolutely brilliant commentary on immigration! I hope Lou Dobbs was watching.

Rawi Hage in Bulgaria

I am reading and LOVING Rawi Hage's De Niro's Game. The book is set in Beirut during the Civil War and follows a young man whose life has been torn apart by bombs, death, crime, confusion and a nagging sense of unbelonging. Hage is a magnificent writer. His style is sparse but vivid, paints his characters' inner-worlds in such ways that you don't always understand but accept nonetheless. For his work on De Niro's Game, in 2008 Rawi Hage received the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, which is "the most lucrative literary prize in the world."

When I was in Bulgaria a couple of weeks ago, I attended a book party for De Niro's Game, at which Rawi Hage himself was present. The party was held at a coffee-shop and the author remarked that he was used to drinking wine at readings but loved the venue anyway. Hage is originally from Lebanon but immigrated to States and then Canada. When I asked him whether the book was autobiographical and how his family responded to it, he said that his mother read the novel and said, "Son, you have a great imagination."

In Bulgaria, the book was published by Janet-45, the most exciting and most progressive publishing house in the country. Janet-45 will be publishing my first book (co-edited with Yana Buhrer Tavanier) some time this fall. So, when the Publisher (Rawi's and mine) asked me if I would be willing to accompany Rawi Hage to a radio-interview and interpret for him, of course, I had to say YES. What I should have said was YES but also THANK YOU FOR THE HONOR.

Only in Bulgaria do we, young aspiring writers, get to rub shoulders with the Great Ones. Only in Bulgaria do we get to crack up about the amount of drinking that we'd been doing in the last couple of days. Only in Bulgaria do we spend an hour talking about Civil Wars, and Death, and Immigration and then hop on a cab together and share a ride to our respective bar engagements. Only in Bulgaria does HE get to thank ME.

That's what Bulgaria is like. Things happen to you and you wonder if it shouldn't be the other way around.

In place of a book review

Last night I spent two hours talking to our landlord Sylvia. Sylvia is in her 50s and immigrated to Germany from Tetovo (Macedonia) when she was 6. Naturally, we have a lot to talk about.

There have been many untimely deaths in Sylvia's family. Her own father passed away when he was only 34. Her sister's husband died at 48 after battling Hepatitis B for over 6 years, which he got from contaminated tubes at the hospital where he was voluntarily donating blood. A couple of years later, Sylvia's only daughter (only 12-years-old) was hit in a car accident and died.

At the same time, Sylvia is the sunniest, friendliest, warmest, strongest person you would ever meet. She tends to her garden and to those around her with utmost care. She said that when her daughter died, she felt she had to be strong for her nieces. Their Dad had passed away just a couple of years before and now their younger cousin was dead. I needed to show them that life could still be good for them, that it is not all bad, she said. So she continued to work, and garden, and travel, and read, and laugh, and grow the meanest roses in all of Freiburg.

Last night, as I was giving her a hug good-night, all I wanted to say to her was "Read Oscar Wao! Read Oscar Wao!".

Death from a distance

My mom called today while I was in the shower. I missed the call and figured I would talk to her later. Fifteen minutes later, I got a call from my sister and my heart sank. Someone died, was the first thing that entered my mind.

Nobody died. It's my Name Day today and she was calling to wish me well.

As my grandparents and parents get older, death is constantly on the back of my mind. Most of my communication with family members happens electronically, so every time someone calls, I take a second to breathe in and out before I pick up. I worry that they are calling with bad news.

Is this why immigrants always have this barely noticeable sadness in their eyes? Not because of anything bad that happened to them but because of the constant worry that if something bad did happen to someone back home, they would not be able to participate in the collective healing?

Gay pride in Sofia and Memphis

In Memphis, yesterday:

South Main becomes Castro Street tonight during the monthly Art Trolley Tour. LGBT-supportive businesses in the arts district will be proudly displaying rainbow flags, thanks to the Center City Commission. In honor of Gay Pride Month, the commission passed out small flags to gay-friendly businesses. The trolley tour runs from 6 to 9 p.m. along South Main.

In Sofia, today:

The second ever gay pride parade boosts a smashing 300 people marching. The crowd, twice the size of last year's, is guarded by city police and private security guards. People are wearing hard-hats for protection but also as a satirical move to show that all participants are working hard to change attitudes in Bulgaria. They are running, rather than walking, because they are afraid of attacks from neo-nazis. Last year neo-nazis threw a Molotov cocktail at us, at this point there are no reports of actual physical violence today. The event is supported by 10 foreign diplomatic missions, several international human rights organizations and only two local political parties.

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I am happy that I am heading to Memphis, sad that things are still so different in Bulgaria, but also proud that so many of my friends participated in the Sofia event. Things can and WILL get better.

Faulkner on hope and compassion

Apparently, William Faulkner did not like to make speeches. "I'm just a farmer who likes to tell stories", he said. In 1950, however, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature and had to travel to Stockholm and give an address. In his very brief speech Faulkner talks about the fate of man, hope and compassion:

I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past.

You can read the full text of the speech here. It is beautiful.

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Photo via La Periodica Revision Dominical

Ich bin ein Berliner

I am getting ready for a weekend in Berlin with my little sister, so, naturally, I have jelly donuts on my mind.

I love that more than 40 years later, JFK's famous speech is still the source of such involved debate among linguists.

I thought that it was a mistake until Paul Krugman got an honorary degree from the Free University in Berlin last year and took it upon himself to clarify that JFK's BIG BLUNDER is, in fact, an urban legend. I am so happy that the name of Kennedy's translator finally got cleared from the smear.

I will be back with pictures on Tuesday. In the meantime, check out this scan of the index card on which JFK wrote down the famous line just moments prior to his speech.

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Photo collage via Alex.

Kindle vs. Sony eReader

Bookslut's new editor Caroline Eick's thoughts on the war going on between Kindle and Sony eReader lovers:

It is a war! People go nuts about this stuff. Sherman Alexie was in hot water over claiming he wanted to kick some dude in the balls for having a Kindle. Or something. I heard about this at some Future of Publishing event. My reaction was to slump down in my chair and start braiding my hair.

My thoughts exactly.

Tornadoes and power

On Twitter I wrote:

Trying not to be too concerned about the big tornado in Memphis that left the entire city without power. We, Bulgarians, don't do "tornado".

Two seconds later I get a reply from my friend and newly minted Dr. Penev:

We, Bulgarians, don't really care about power shortages.

True, true. Case closed.

Apartment hunting

I must say, the financial crisis is great for those of us who are employed and apartment-hunting. Looking at real estate in Memphis doubles the pleasure because there is plenty to go around and all of it is insanely cheap. Earlier today we spent a total of maybe one hour looking and sent out about 10 inquiries.

We really liked the description of a house near Rhodes where Kyle will be teaching, asked the guy for pictures and he said that "Google Earth took some for him but they are blurry". Google Earth did what?!

And then, of course, there was the great 3-bedroom apartment that's "close to everything". Everything?! Really?!

But the one that really stole our hearts was the luxury condo apartment in downtown Memphis that you get for free for a month, pay a $200 security deposit and after that your $725/month includes utilities + "Multiple pools, several tanning beds, a workout room plus more".

Kyle, having some Irish in him, and I, having been land-bound for about a year are both awfully pale and could really use an extended session at the tanning salon but what we are both most nervous about is telling Leigh Johnson that we actually looked at Downtown apartments.

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P.S. This is the one that we really want.